By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The (Longview) Daily News reports a deputy coroner in Cowlitz County who admitted stealing from a dead man while on the job has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.
News reporter Leslie Slape writes that Jeffrey W. Hart, 44, of Castle Rock, was fired from his part-time position when he was arrested this summer and the coroner’s office found no other discrepancies in cases Hart was involved in.
Read about it here
Updated at 6:19 p.m.
BURGLARIES IN MINERAL
• An estimated $1,100 worth of power tools were stolen from a home and garage on the 700 block of Mineral Creek Road in Mineral sometime between last Monday and Thursday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The 86-year-old victim, a Gig Harbor resident, reported the break in on Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.
• A deputy took a report on Thanksgiving day of a burglary to a boathouse in Mineral in which a variety of items were missing, including a large amount of wood working tools, six wooden oars, two electric trolling motors, a fishing pole, a 1950s fishing reel and a large yellow water trampoline, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim said it had occurred sometime since Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.
CENTRALIA BREAK-IN
• Centralia police were called about 4:15 p.m. yesterday to a burglary at the 1100 block of Long Road in which someone entered through an unlocked door. Missing were several car titles and some movies, according to the Centralia Police Department,
CHEHALIS BURGLARIES
• A car dolly was missing after the discovery a lock was removed and a gate left open on Northwest State Avenue and California Street in Chehalis on Saturday afternoon, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• A safe was stolen in a residential burglary on the 1700 block of Centralia-Alpha Road outside Chehalis sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. There was nothing of value inside, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Police were called yesterday morning to the 1500 block of Southwest Kelly Avenue in Chehalis about a garage burglary. Missing was a Stihl chainsaw with a 24-inch bar, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
KNOCK KNOCK, BAM
• Police were called about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday to a home on the 600 block of Northeast Franklin Avenue in Chehalis where a male said he answered the door and an unknown male punched him in the neck. The suspect, who was with a person the resident knew, left and no arrest was made, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
DRUGS
• A 27-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine yesterday after contact with an officer at South Pearl and West Chestnut streets in Centralia. Steven D. Couch was a passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop, and while talking with an officer, pulled his ID out of his wallet and a “scraper baggie” fell out, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. Couch was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• A 27-year-old Napavine woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and driving with a suspended license following a traffic stop in Chehalis on Wednesday night. Natalie J. Soto was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer about 11:30 p.m. at Southwest Chehalis Avenue and Third Street, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
LOTS O’ DRUGS
• A 36-year-old man arrested by Centralia police on Friday morning for possession of methamphetamine had more than two pounds of suspected meth in a shopping bag, according to prosecutors. Enrique Orozco-Caberra, of Seattle, was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with possession with intent to deliver. The case involved a confidential informant and a set up, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. His bail was set at $200,000. An arraignment was scheduled for Thursday.
• A 33-year-old Winlock man was arrested early Saturday morning in Toledo after police dog Misha sniffed out 150 grams (one-third of a pound) of suspected methamphetamine in his vehicle following a traffic stop, according to the Winlock Police Department. The drugs were seized and Justin S. Ingalsbe was booked in to the Lewis County Jail, according to Winlock Police Chief Terry Williams. Ingalsbe bailed out but was back in court this afternoon where he was charged with possession of meth and with intent to deliver. He is scheduled to return to Lewis County Superior Court with an attorney on Dec. 6 for his arraignment.
VEHICLE PROWL
• Someone stole a tool box, a sleeping bag, boots, two blankets and a vehicle owner’s manual from a truck parked at the 100 block of Summerside Drive in Centralia, according to a report made to the sheriff’s office on Wednesday morning.
• A vehicle prowl that occurred overnight was reported on Sunday from the 1400 block of of Southwest Snively Avenue in Chehalis, according to police.
• A Chehalis officer was called to the 1000 block of Southwest Snively Avenue around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday about car prowls.
• A vehicle prowl was reported Thursday afternoon from the 200 block of Southeast Washington in Chehalis.
• An officer took a report about 11 a.m. on Thursday of a vehicle prowl on the 500 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Chehalis police were called at 5 a.m. on Thursday about a vehicle prowl at Thorbeckes on Southwest Chehalis Avenue in which a wallet and other items were missing.
WRECKS
• A 22-year-old Seattle man was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with back pain after a single-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 near the 13th Street interchange just before 2 o’clock this morning. Earvin R. Narvasa was northbound d when his Honda Civic struck a guard rail, according to the Washington State Patrol. He was cited for second-degree negligent driving, according to the state patrol.
• A 54-year-old driver was hospitalized after a single-vehicle crash yesterday afternoon at Jackson Highway South near Ray Road in Toledo. A deputy arriving about 4:45 p.m. was told the truck hit a slick spot in a sweeping curve and rolled over, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. The driver, a man from Ridgefield, said he wasn’t hurt, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was transported to St. John Medical Center in Longview to be evaluated, Brown said.
• A 35-year-old Centralia man was arrested for driving under the influence following a single-vehicle collision on Wednesday afternoon at Reynolds Avenue near Blair Road in Centralia. Justin L. Hyde said his steering went out but a witness said he was going too fast at a corner, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The Dodge Durango struck a curb and a construction sign, before crossing over the oncoming lane, according to the sheriff’s office. The damage to the truck was minor, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Hyde was not booked into jail, nor was his 18-year-old passenger who smelled of alcohol, according to Brown.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A Vader man is jailed today after stepping in between his parents during a fight in front of a Morton motel, which ended when his father suffered a serious head injury and then subsequently died, according to the Morton Police Department.
Travis M. Myers, 27, was arrested after the Tuesday night incident; his father Michael K. Myers, 52, passed away on Thursday at a Seattle hospital, according to Chief Dan Mortensen.
“There was some kind of argument between between the mother and the father, apparently a physical altercation,” Mortensen said. “The son stepped in, pushed the father. He fell to the sidewalk and struck his head.”
An officer called about 10 p.m. to the scene on the 200 block of Westlake Avenue did CPR with help from a trooper and the father was transported to Harborview Medical Center, according to the chief.
Michael K. Myers passed away on Thanksgiving Day, Mortensen said.
The family is from Vader and the men had come to the Seasons Motel to pick up the mother who had taken a room there after her arrest by a trooper for a reason the chief didn’t disclose.
The son was arrested on Wednesday for second-degree assault, but the prosecutor will be evaluating the appropriate charge given the death, according to Mortensen.
BLEAK BLACK FRIDAY FOR SERIAL SHOPLIFTERS CAPTURED IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police say they broke up a shoplifting ring on Friday afternoon after employees at a Centralia Outlet store called 911 and chased suspects about 4 p.m. near West High Street and Harrison Avenue. Officers were told a woman walked out of the Nike store wearing a pair of their shoes, and one male ran off while another drove away, according to police. Arriving officers found one suspect when he popped out of some bushes and another behind the wheel of his car on Harrison Avenue, Officer Angie Humphrey said. The female was tracked down in Casa Ramos restaurant where she had hid her purse containing the stolen shoes, Humphrey said. Merchandise stolen from as many as a half dozen stores, totaling about $1,200, was recovered from the vehicle, according to police. Booked into the Lewis County Jail for organized retail theft and second-degree theft were Whitley Y. Schiele, 20 and Cedric A. Dorsey, 19, both of Federal Way; as well as a 16-year-old boy from Des Moines, according to the Centralia Police Department.
POLICE: INTOXICATED INDIVIDUAL PUNCHES PATROL CAR WINDOW
• A 21-year-old man was arrested just before 4 a.m. today after he allegedly punched the windshield of a patrol car in Chehalis. A Centralia police officer on his way to work stopped at Maurin and Bishop roads to assist a disabled motorist, according to the Centralia Police Department. It was a father trying to catch up to his intoxicated son, Officer Angie Humphrey said. The son became irate and broke the windshield with his fist, according to Humphrey. Joseph M. Pierce, of Tumwater, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree malicious mischief, according to police.
THEFT
• Centralia police responded to a burglary at a home on the 2000 block of Ahlers Avenue about 4:45 a.m. yesterday. Missing were rings and $2,000 cash, according to police. Someone apparently got in through a window, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• An officer was called to a business yesterday on the 1200 block of South Gold Street in Centralia to take a report about the theft of several security cameras.
CAR PROWL
• Cash, jewelry and a GPS device were stolen from two vehicles parked on the 1100 block of West Plum Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday morning.
• A Kenwood stereo was reported missing from a vehicle parked on the 1000 block of South Pearl Street in Centralia on Friday morning.
• An iPod and an XPlode stereo were missing from a car parked on the 600 block of Scott Drive in Centralia, according to a report made to police on Thursday morning.
• Centralia police took a report about 3 a.m. on Friday from an individual at the 200 block of Johnson Road in Centralia who said someone broke out the windows of his vehicles sometime during the previous two days.
DRUGS
• A 46-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine after contact with an officer about 9:30 p.m. yesterday in an alley near the 200 block of South Tower Avenue. James A. Nix was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• A 60-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for a warrant and possession of methadone about 4:45 a.m. yesterday after contact with an officer on the 900 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. Kathie I. Martin was booked in to the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• A 36-year-old Seattle-area man was arrested about 7 a.m. on Friday for possession of methamphetamine, according to the Centralia Police Department. Enrique Orozco-Caberra was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer on Woodland Avenue, according to police.
RV CATCHES FIRE
• Firefighters were called yesterday evening to a fully-involved in flames motor home parked in a driveway on the 2000 block of Cooks Hill Road in Centralia. It was an older motor home, nobody was injured and the cause of the blaze is under investigation, according to Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Erik Olson.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has concluded a sheriff’s deputy’s fatal shooting of a Napavine man earlier this month along state Route 6 near Boistfort was justified.
Gregory S. Kaufman
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Matt Wallace was placed on administrative leave after the Nov. 1 encounter in which 64-year-old Gregory S. Kaufman died.
In a letter released Wednesday by Meyer describing his legal analysis to the lead investigator in the case, Meyer outlines a scenario similar to what the sheriff’s office has already said: Deputy Wallace stopped to assist a parked motorist, who he found was suicidal and who subsequently exited his vehicle and advanced upon him with a knife.
Kaufman was struck by two bullets as Wallace retreated, apparently backing up toward the highway in the dark.
Meyer writes the deputy had no other choice:
“When the legal standard is applied to the facts at hand, it is clear that Deputy Wallace was justified when he used deadly force against Gregory Kaufman.”
According to the document, Kaufman was arrested two days prior for alleged misdemeanor assault of his girlfriend, Vicky L. Henthom and a no contact order was put in place.
A Chehalis police officer contacted Kaufman by phone the evening of Oct. 31, asking Kaufman to come to the police department to discuss a violation of the order; because Kaufman had left a note for his girlfriend on her car, according to the document.
Kaufman never appeared at the police station, Meyer writes.
The deadly encounter at a large gravel turnout just east of the South Fork Chehalis RIver Bridge later that night lasted five minutes, according to Meyer.
Meyer gives the following account:
The deputy, alone on patrol, approached the driver’s side door of the car and found Kaufman sitting in the reclined passenger seat.
Deputy Wallace spoke to Kaufman through a tinted, fogged up window and asked Kaufman if he was okay. Kaufman indicated he was fine and just had a nose bleed.
Deputy Wallace seeing cut marks and dried blood on Kaufman’s wrist as well as blood stains on his abdomen – but no blood on his mustache – said he didn’t believe him and asked if he’d been cutting himself.
Kaufman nodded yes, then turned his head and pointed to a neck wound, prompting the deputy to ask 911 dispatchers to send aid.
The deputy asked Kaufman to unlock the door, which he did.
With the door open, the two spoke. Kaufman became emotional, said he’d left a note for Vicky and was concerned about violating the no contact order.
The deputy tried to reassure him he was only concerned about getting him help.
Wallace asked Kaufman where the knife was. Kaufman reached to his right and brought up a knife with a five-inch blade.
Wallace asked him to place it on the dashboard and at first it appeared he would comply.
Then Kaufman looked at the knife, looked at Wallace and then reached over to open the passenger door and got out with the knife in his hand.
Wallace drew his weapon and told him to drop the knife, but Kaufman began to advance on the deputy, with the point of the knife aimed at the deputy.
Wallace repeatedly told Kaufman to drop the knife; Kaufman did not respond but continued to advance, having walked around the rear of his car.
Wallace radioed dispatch to say the man was coming at him with a knife, continued to retreat toward state Route 6.
Then – at 12:16 a.m. – Wallace fired two shots. Kaufman immediately fell to the ground.
Noticeably absent from the narrative are descriptors of Kaufman’s movements, such as “lunged” or “charged” which the sheriff’s office reported in its initial account that morning.
Meyer’s document places Kaufman about 20 feet from his car and Deputy Wallace about 35 feet from the car when he fired his weapon.
The autopsy found a bullet wound to the abdomen, a fatal bullet wound to the head and superficial cuts on the side of his neck and on one wrist. A notepad found on the car seat contained a document titled “Last will and testament.”
Meyer’s information comes primarily from an investigation conducted by the Regional Sheriff’s Critical Incident Investigation Team. The group is made up of deputies from the surrounding counties of Thurston, Pacific, Mason and Grays Harbor and the Washington State Patrol.
Thurston County Sheriff’s detective Cameron Simper was the lead investigator.
Wallace, 37, has been with the sheriff’s office for nine years. Prosecutor Meyer notes he is authorizing the return of Wallace’s duty weapon to him.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said on Wednesday evening she did not know when Deputy Wallace would be back at work.
Last year, when Deputy Matt McKnight fatally shot a citizen, an internal investigation was not completed until a week after the prosecutor completed his review of the outside investigation.
•••
Read Prosecutor Meyer’s letter detailing his investigative conclusions, here
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – An autopsy conducted yesterday concluded the 69-year-old Winlock man who died after a two-vehicle accident in Evaline on Wednesday afternoon died from a previously undetected heart condition.
Larry Pudelko was traveling alone on Highway 603 near Schoolhouse Road when his Chevrolet Malibu crossed the centerline and struck an oncoming pickup truck, according to authorities.
Pudelko died en route to the hospital. A Lake Forest Park couple in the other vehicle suffered injuries that were not described as life threatening.
Lewis County Chief Deputy Coroner, Dawn Harris said yesterday Pudelko suffered a “dissecting aortic aneurysm”. It’s basically an undetected weakness in the vessel wall that can rupture at any time causing virtually instantaneous death, she said.
The manner of death will be labeled as natural as opposed to accidental, according to Harris.
OVERNIGHT ARRESTS AROUND DOWNTOWN CENTRALIA
• A 22-year-old Chehalis woman was taken to jail last night after she allegedly tried to kick a police officer around 10 p.m. when she was detained for leaving her vehicle on railroad tracks in downtown Centralia. Ericka B. Dukeshire-Pogue, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• Three people were arrested in Centralia last night for driving under the influence of alcohol, all within an hour of each other. According to the Centralia Police Department: Bryan A. Woodhead, 22, of Centralia, was stopped at 1:18 a.m. at the 800 block of South Pearl Street; Ian J. Rust, 21, of Rochester was stopped at 1:52 a.m. at North Ash and West Main streets; and Devin S. Carroll, 21, of Chehalis, was stopped at 2:17 a.m. at North Silver and West Main streets. All were booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.
• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested for fourth-degree assault overnight after allegedly pulling his girlfriend’s hair. Joseph A. Miranda was booked into the Lewis County jail after contact with an officer about 1:20 a.m. at the 200 block of North Railroad Avenue in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.
DRUGS
• Centralia police called about a suspicious person around 5:15 a.m. today at the 1200 block of Alder Street arrested a 25-year-old Centralia resident for possession of heroin. Brandon V. Stray was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
THEFT
• Centralia police were called just after 6 p.m. yesterday about a burglary at a home on the 3400 block of Fords Prairie Avenue. Missing is a safe containing cash and jewelry, according to the Centralia Police Department. The loss is estimated at $5,000, according to police.
• Centralia police took a report yesterday evening regarding the suspected theft of funds by an employee at a business on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue. The case remains under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department. Further details were not readily available.
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